ArcherPoint: Redefining Microsoft ERP Implementations

Greg Kaupp, CEO

The Microsoft ecosystem has undergone tremendous changes in the last decade. Data breaches like Target and Home Depot have hugely impacted businesses. “Clients are rethinking their access and connectivity strategies for third party vendors. We have invested heavily on how we serve and connect with our clients,” states Greg Kaupp, CEO, ArcherPoint. Since organizations now have very specific requirements that must be adhered to when someone connects in their environment, ArcherPoint spends a great deal of time in implementing Microsoft Hyper-V Datacenter Edition and specialized remote desktop management tools to ensure effective management of security protocols, connectivity requirements, and VPNs.

“Moreover, in today’s shift to an app-driven world, people want the best tool regardless of the underlying platform,” says Kaupp. Microsoft has made this pivot as well—they are now focusing on making Office 365 ubiquitous, regardless of the OS or device, and Azure is becoming a platform for more than just Microsoft technologies. With the Redmond based software giant shifting to a cloud-centric world, Dynamics NAV has transitioned from a two-tier on premise to an N-tier multitenant cloud solution."They are now rolling out major releases every year and new features and functionalities are being included in the monthly updates,” he adds. Amidst these changes, ArcherPoint is working on automating upgrades and focusing on the increasing integration between Dynamics NAV and Office 365. “We are working closely with Microsoft to increase the support and ease of deployment for NAV on Azure,” states Kaupp.

Besides vast experience on Dynamics NAV, ArcherPoint’s expertise also extends to Office 365, Parature, and Yammer—all of these tools are omnipresent in ArcherPoint internally. The need to exchange emails and files back and forth is virtually nonexistent with the advent of Office 365. “We can now collaborate online in real-time, regardless of our team’s geographic location,” comments Kaupp.

Yammer—an enterprise social networking service—is another key product that has helped ArcherPoint connect and share knowledge with each other as a virtual organization. Previously, the only real way to connect would be through phone or via a dreaded ‘all company email’ that blows up your inbox.

“With Yammer, people are now throwing ideas all day long into ‘our stream of consciousness.’ And as people have time, they can jump in and out of this stream of data and lend a helping hand,” notes Kaupp. This also gives teams the capability to go back to the Yammer archive and research past problems and solutions. “This brings a lot of value. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time an issue comes up,” he adds.

Having been a Microsoft partner since 2002—right after Microsoft acquired Navision—ArcherPoint has grown from a small group of people to a company with offices spread across 25 states and three different countries, and over 300 global clients. ArcherPoint makes a conscious effort to move away from the traditional waterfall project execution to an agile scrum based approach. “While such an approach is common in software development, it is still fairly uncommon in ERP implementations,” notes Kaupp. However, ArcherPoint has been doing this for years. “We take what comes out of our requirements solicitation and feed that into our scrum based project execution approach.”

With Yammer, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time an
issue comes up

To continue staying at the forefront, ArcherPoint has been diligently working on expanding internationally. Apart from moving to the cloud and developing more intellectual property, Kaupp aims to convert ArcherPoint into an employee-owned company soon. “We truly believe that with a company of owners we can create a much different outcome than we can as a company of employees,” he concludes.